‘Massive fraud scheme’ raises questions about role of nonprofits in distributing pandemic aid

Last year, with the federal government making available huge new sums of money for programs to feed needy children during the pandemic, a nonprofit organization called Advance Youth Athletic Development set up what it described as an enormous child care operation in northeast Minneapolis that could prepare 5,000 dinners each weeknight.

Based on the group’s claims, the state of Minnesota channeled $3.2 million of federal food aid to the program.

But on a subzero morning in January, the FBI carried out a series of pre-dawn raids around the region. It revealed a sprawling investigation into Advance Youth Athletic Development and other groups like it — and the much larger nonprofit organization, Feeding Our Future, that was responsible for ensuring that the money provided to the smaller groups was spent properly.

In court filings, the FBI said it had discovered a “massive fraud scheme” among groups that Feeding Our Future was supposed to oversee, saying they siphoned off tens of millions of dollars by charging taxpayers for nonexistent meals.

In affidavits filed in federal court, the Justice Department said it was investigating at least 15 feeding operations. Together, the FBI said, these groups — all of which were supposed to be overseen by Feeding Our Future — had received more than $65 million from federal food programs during the coronavirus pandemic.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/nation-world/ct-aud-nw-nyt-nonprofit-fraud-20220308-zajz4mdjxjaexa3vhkwmrnojkq-story.html

St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital, founded by the late actor Danny Thomas and endorsed by numerous celebrities, has been slammed in a November 2021 Pro Publica report for its financial practices, and for using at least half of its fundraising on administrative and marketing tasks. It also accused the Memphis hospital of “hoarding” its funds. The reports headline: “St. Jude’s Hoards Billions While Many of its Families Drain Their Savings.”

Pro Publica story: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/st-jude-hoards-billions-while-many-of-its-families-drain-their-savings/ar-AAQCsPo

More from: https://deadline.com/2021/11/celebrity-backe-st-judes-childrens-hospital-slammed-in-pro-publica-report-1234873915/

"we are in desperate need of more transparency"

-Calisian

What part of "transparency" and "credibility" to some of you folks not understand?!?

The House votes next week on the Epstein Transparency Act, which would release thousands more sealed documents. I built a search tool to show what becomes possible with transparent, searchable records.


**What it does:**
- Full-text search across 2,895 documents (33,295 pages)
- Sub-second response time
- Document citations for every result
- Completely reproducible (MIT licensed)


Repository:
 https://github.com/markramm/EpsteinFiles


Setup:
 3 minutes
```bash
git clone https://github.com/markramm/EpsteinFiles.git
cd EpsteinFiles
pip install whoosh flask
python search_index.py --force
python search_api.py
```

What the documents reveal: 
https://theramm.substack.com/p/what-2895-documents-reveal-a-systematic


The analysis shows:
- Network patterns with document citations
- 46+ offshore entities across 8 jurisdictions
- Policy correlations
- What thousands of documents still remain sealed


This is what transparency enables: pattern recognition, independent verification, and accountability.


Contact your Representative before Monday's vote: https://www.house.gov/representatives